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The sister of a man who died in the Hillsborough disaster has cast doubt on whether a law aimed at preventing official cover-ups can ever truly work “until they start sending people to prison”.

A new report into calls for a “Hillsborough Law”, published by parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), has recommended the government consider introducing a statutory “duty of candour” for all public bodies.

Campaigners want the new legislation to prevent a repeat of the experiences of families of the 97 fans who were killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster from happening again.

In June 2021, two police forces agreed to pay damages to more than 600 survivors of the Hillsborough disaster and the family members of victims following a cover-up of the tragedy.

Louise Brookes, whose brother Andrew Mark Brookes was one of the Hillsborough victims, told Sky News that, while she welcomes the principle of a Hillsborough Law to prevent cover-ups in future, she is concerned at how seriously the duty of candour would be taken.

Andrew Mark Brookes

“You will never get people to tell the truth when it’s not in their best interests when they are protected by their bosses, when it’s the establishment,” she said.

“Until they start sending people to prison, nothing is going to change in this country.”

Pressure for a new law increased this week after the report of the inquiry into the infected blood scandal found it “could largely have been avoided” and that there was a “pervasive” cover-up to hide the truth.

The JCHR said it heard from witnesses who felt the lessons of Hillsborough “remained unlearnt” and some of the same issues continued to have an impact at other major hearings including the Manchester Arena inquiry.

“People need to understand that these cover-ups traumatise us for life,” Ms Brookes said.

She said victims of a series of scandals have experienced it.

Read more:
Liverpool fan running 227 miles in call for Hillsborough Law
100 faces of the infected blood scandal

Louise Brookes says people need to go to prison for the law to be effective. Pic: PA
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Louise Brookes says people need to go to prison for the law to be effective. Pic: PA

Andrew Mark Brookes (centre)
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Andrew Mark Brookes (centre)

Ms Brookes continued: “For us, the truth is these lies ruin our lives and have sent some people to their graves.

“Individuals need to find their moral compass.”

Last year, in a response to a report on Hillsborough by the former bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones, the government stopped short of introducing legislation, instead proposing a pledge to put the public interest ahead of its reputation.

But JCHR chairwoman Joanna Cherry KC said: “All of us on the human rights committee have huge respect and admiration for the courage and fortitude of the families of those who died at Hillsborough and the survivors. Just this week we have also seen how the victims of the infected blood scandal had to go through a similar struggle.

“It is shameful that their pain was compounded by the delays and obfuscation they faced in their search for the truth, and the decades they had to wait for justice.

“Even so many years later, lessons still have to be learnt to ensure that these failures are not repeated.”

Infected blood victims and campaigners protest on College Green in Westminster, London calling for action on compensation payments for victims of the infected blood scandal. Picture date: Wednesday February 28, 2024.
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Infected blood scandal victims and campaigners protest on College Green in Westminster as they call for compensation. Pic: PA

Solicitor Elkan Abrahamson, a director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, told Sky News that the public was “fed up with officials lying all the time” and that victims were currently suffering a double injustice.

“There is an impetus from the public for this to be enacted.

“When you ask bereaved families what they want to achieve, almost always the answer is ‘We don’t want this to happen to anyone else’. When they see the government or other public officials covering up what went wrong that almost wounds them psychologically.

“It compounds the trauma they suffered in the first place. It is offensive, not just to the bereaved, but to us as a society.”

In response to the JCHR report, the Cabinet Office pointed to remarks by the Paymaster General John Glen in the Commons on the infected bloody inquiry report this week.

He told MPs that on issues like duty of candour “progress is being made in different ways”.

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Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

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Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

Three men have been jailed for a combined total of 99 years for plotting to murder a member of a gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006.

The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid.

The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down.

Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne – 30 years.

Damage to the kitchen door.
Pic: Met Police/PA
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Damage to the kitchen door. Pic: Met Police/PA

A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police
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A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Detectives said the shooting could seem like “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster” but added it was actually “horrific criminality” from “hardened organised criminals”.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: “I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain.

“The culpability of each one of you is very high.

“The harm caused to the victim was very serious – indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious. He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need.”

The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.

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Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

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Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of university lecturer Claire Chick.

Paul Butler was sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years for killing his estranged wife after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept their relationship was over.

Ms Chick, 48, was found seriously injured on West Hoe Road in Plymouth just before 9pm on 22 January. She was taken to hospital, but died the next day.

Previously known as Claire Butler, Ms Chick worked at the University of Plymouth.

Paul Antony Butler.
Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police
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Paul Butler has been jailed for murder. Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police


She died after a frenzied attack outside her home – the attack a culmination of months of harassment, stalking and violence at the hands of Butler.

Following her death, Devon and Cornwall Police made a referral to the police watchdog due to previous contact prior to her death.

Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Ms Chick had made six statements to the police about Butler and he had been arrested three times.

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In her final statement to police the day before he killed her outside her own home, she said: “I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.”

Butler was arrested around 20 miles away in the Liskeard area on 24 January.

He was sentenced on Friday at Plymouth Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to murder, and to one charge of possession of a bladed article.

‘I loved Claire’

The family of Ms Chick told the court how her murder left a “huge void” in their lives.

Her eldest daughter, Bethany Hancock-Baxter, described Butler as “evil”.

She said: “I want this evil man to listen to me. I want you to know what you have done to us as a family.

“Despite all the hate I have for you, I cannot bring myself to do what you did to my mum – that’s because I am not evil like you.”

Her sister, Lydia Peers, said Butler was a “parasite”.

After her short-lived marriage to Butler, Ms Chick began a relationship with another man, Paul Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell spoke from the witness box and repeatedly stared at the defendant as he spoke. Butler stared back at him.

“I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind,” Mr Maxwell said.

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Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is ‘intimidating’

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Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is 'intimidating'

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has told Sky News it’s “intimidating” to be one of those responsible for choosing the next pope.

Vincent Nichols is among four UK cardinals in Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.

Following the funeral, and after nine days of mourning, cardinals from around the world will gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to cast their votes, with white smoke announcing to the world when a new pope has been elected.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols with Anna Botting
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Cardinal Vincent Nichols speaks to Sky’s Anna Botting

Cardinal Nichols told Sky’s Anna Botting: “I hope nobody goes into this conclave, as it were, with the sole purpose of wanting to win. I think it’s very important that we go in wanting to listen to each other… It has to be together, trying to sense what God wants next. Not just for the church.”

He described the procession that took Pope Francis to lie in state as “the most moving thing I’ve ever attended here”.

Describing the Pope as a “master of the gesture and the phrase”, he also recalled the pontiff’s last journey away from the Vatican.

Cardinal Nichols said Pope Francis had visited the Regina Coeli prison, telling the inmates: “You know, except for the grace of God, it could well have been me … Don’t lose hope, God has you written in his heart.”

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‘Pope touched the hearts of millions’

The Pope later told his doctor his last regret was not being able to wash the feet of the prisoners during that visit.

Becoming emotional, he also said the final message he would like to have given Pope Francis is “thank you”.

The 88-year-old died peacefully on Easter Monday, the Vatican confirmed.

Heads of state – including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron – have all confirmed their attendance at his funeral, which takes place on Saturday at St Peter’s Square.

Prince William will attend on behalf of the King, Kensington Palace has said.

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Where will Pope Francis be buried?

Talking about the seating plan at the funeral, Cardinal Nichols said he understood it to be “royalty first, then heads of state, then political leaders”.

Worldwide geopolitical tensions mean that many eyes will be on interactions between heads of state at the event, with particular focus on Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following their tense meeting at the Oval Office in February.

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Pope’s cause of death confirmed .

Looking back at the last papal funeral, Cardinal Nichols described the seating of the then Prince Charles one seat away from Zimbabwean present Robert Mugabe as “obviously a little bit tense”.

Cardinal Nichols explained event would be “exactly the same Catholic rite as everyone else – just on a grander scale”.

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3D map shows pope’s funeral route

In a break from tradition, Pope Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican – and will instead be laid to rest at his favourite church, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.

He will also be buried in just one simple wooden coffin, instead of the traditional three coffins which are usually used for pontiffs.

Born in Crosby near Liverpool, Cardinal Vincent Nichols hoped to be a lorry driver as a child – but as a teenager reportedly felt the calling to join the priesthood while watching Liverpool FC.

As cardinal, he is known for leading the church’s work tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, for which he received the UN Path to Peace Award.

He was criticised by the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which said he “demonstrated a lack of understanding” of the impact of abuse and “seemingly put the reputation of the church first”.

Cardinal Nichols, responding to the findings, previously told Sky News he was “ashamed at what has happened in the context of the Catholic Church” and promised to improve the church’s response.

He has appeared to rule himself out of the running for pope, telling reporters he was “too old, not capable”.

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